AFC ‘insider’ claims ‘exclusive’ as Arsene trolls fans with mean jibe

Ok, I can’t go on at full pace forever over here guys and gals… I need a rest. So this is me tapping out for a few days.

Anyway, what do you want from me? Proof that the certain segments of the mainstream media live for exclusives and access over values? That the truth is a commodity? That certain names think you’re a f*cking idiot?

Ok, we can do that.

On Monday, one of Europe’s best journos, Rapha Honigstein (Bayern fan), mentioned on the BBC that Arsenal had been asking Europe about the availability of top managers, 4 days later, The Mirror who ‘make u fink’ and stuff, via you know who, dropped an ‘exclusive’ that Arsenal are chasing 4 managers if Wenger leaves, 3 of which The Metro and The Telegraph had mentioned 13 hours prior.

I’m struggling here. Just a few days earlier, this senior insider was attacking fans for having an opinion whilst writing aggressively about a confused board who couldn’t fathom Arsenal fan upset because ‘we’d never had it so good.’

Literally two days later, the ‘baffled’ board had sounded out 4 of the best managers in Europe? An exclusive Honigstein had owned 4 days before?

What’s happened here?

Looks like the exclusive was borrowed, because let’s be fair here, who the f*ck is calling out Roger Schmidt of Leverkusen like this if they’ve paid attention to the Bundesliga for 3 minutes this season.

‘Schmidt would be regarded as the surprise inclusion but has been getting admiring glances for Leverkusen’s entertaining football and consistency and there is a feeling he too could be tempted’

For the record, Leverkusen have been playing garbage football all year, and they’re currently in 9th position in the Bundesliga. Pretty sure no one has found them entertaining, nor would they have admired the consistency. A real rush job. Odd that an ‘informed’ journo who spent last week explaining how a baffled board couldn’t comprehend fan upset would suddenly have a shortlist of 4 names for the summer?

Scrabbling for the clicks that YOU control.

In other very alarming news, Arsene Wenger is destroying his relationship with Arsenal fans in the only way a man who is rich, powerful and giving zero fucks about anything could.

This is what he had to say ab0ut the Arsenal peasants.

“We are in a fight there, we absolutely have to be united or we have no chance to do it.

“You have Tottenham, everyone is in the fight and everyone is behind their team. We have to do exactly the same, even if we had two disappointing results.”

Yep. Be more like Spurs fans. Nice one Arsene. Nothing says you don’t care / are losing your mind, quite like calling for Arsenal fans to be more like our nastiest rivals. Well played. But, you know, my grandad struggled in his latter years and I didn’t hold it against him.

How about this?

‘You cannot be a fan until last Tuesday and not be a fan anymore and not be behind the team this Saturday. It doesn’t make sense.’

Wenger for real believing fan unrest has only been occurring since last week.

Anyway, good news is that our number one target, that looks very much like Allegri, appears to be very hard for Arsenal. On leaving Juventus…

“I won’t deny or confirm anything,”

This is either to get a bigger deal, or it’s because he wants out. Who else would take his role? No one. It’s his. No one is after that Juve job. Allegri is king there.

What do I like about this guy? He’s more tactically flexible than Conte. Not quite as intense, but he’s a baller at the highest level. He’s also won things at a club with mega expectations. He’s a bit of a crazy on the touchline. He can max out a performance like the best of them. He’s a world-class manager.

Has he been fired? Sure. Twice. But he’s won leagues at Milan and Juve. He’s a winner.

Would love to see what Jardim, Sarri and Tuchel could do, but it might be too early for all of them.

Bring Allegri in, give him £1o0m to do with as he pleases. Give him a DoF, like Monchi, Zorc or Ragnick and we’d be f*cking rolling next year.

Anyway, watch this space. Laugh at the fake insiders scrambling and continue to call bullshit on false news peddlers who think you are thick.

THE NARRATIVE IS OURS.

Finger crossed Wenger is really off. That would be best for all of us.

Welbichio, looking at his title “kane” what do you think? Maybe he is here to put more spicy ingredient on the subject issue, seeing that it is the same fans that wanted wenger out several years ago are still the ones glorying over Arsenal losses on legrove.

Well, anybody that takes over the helm of Arsenal will be accepted by me, i just hope the Wobs dont turn their backs on him anytime soon, because they are found of doing that to players they helped us sign…

So much interesting talent out there to replace Wenger with.
Club could go a plethora of stylistic directions.

I fancy Tuchel. Might be a touch soon for him but he has that creative, unpredictable kind of crazy that unsettles, but then a tactical Allegri looks much better in a suit. Real dilemma there.

But for the first season ever w/ Wenger i’m somehow feeling confident he’s going to call it a day. The likelihood of this ending in tears for me is highly possible, but somethings changed. A mental trigger clicked, perhaps that equatable to all the shit happening in America.

Theres no doubt its sea change time for Arsenal. Hoping club are ready, they’ve certainly had the time to prepare for this transition.

Kane: “The crux of it here is I don’t think they are… there is a billionaire owner who clearly doesn’t care about sporting success, just financial gain… there is a manager who is the highest paid manager in world football, yet hasn’t won a major trophy in 13 seasons.”

There is no clear evidence of financial gain by the owner as the club has not paid dividends to shareholders for a while now. Kroenke is a billionaire and won’t skim off the top here.

I thought we just cleared the fact that the FA cup is a major trophy.

I feel what Alan was pointing out is that no one club is entitled to winning the trophy each year and the fact we are contenders each season means someone is trying to win it (Wenger’s teams may have bottled it in the crucial periods but there are still no guarantees); how many top 6 teams have City beaten this season, with Pep in charge?

We want a change of managers, okay; however, I prefer to usher out the current manager with some dignity, as befitting of our club and I believe he is off this summer. Let’s support the team to the finish line because without CL football, we may not attract a great manager and the best players unless we can pay silly money like the Mancs.

Fans who want Wenger gone will give whoever is the new boss a chance with reason of course. If the man finishes 7th and 8th in back to back seasons we would rightfully question him, just as we question Wengers current spineless inept approach to coaching.

No it is not counter productive to protest.secondly & realistically there is NOTHiNG to play for.zilch.please don’t mention the champions league or I ‘ll have a coronary.that leaves the dreaded groundhog trophy.is that it?really?the reason why we shouldn’t protest.afc fanbase in a nutshell.serve us a shit sandwich & we’ll munch it all day long….

Olegunner, Arsenal dont have the luxury of sacking managers due to their payoff fees. Arsenal will persist with any manager for a long time, so they have to get it right ones (at most two appointments) and i hope he gets two to three years of leeway with your lots. There is what we call support and not critism at every mistake or opportununity.
Note: 100m wont give you two worldclass player replacement these days, so dont i dont think the 100m warchest you guys keep quoting will be enough to replace our average joes.
There is a level just above average players would take you, and then they run out of steam. Ask liverpool, totenham and Arsenal. It isnt bottling, lol. It is how capable you are.

People say Arsenal players are bottlers when it comes to pressure, just because the british media say so doesnt make it right. (they think they bottle it at major tounaments, they dont know they are not good enough)
when opposition teams play at their 120percent, the averageness of the opponents shows.

P.s. Liverpool are in turmoil, they didnt win any match in Jan 2017, but as usual our fans have made it look like we are the only team that have been losing matches for 13years now, and the media has focused on us, forgetting liverpool’s woes.
The English media earn their living from fickle arsenal fans who cant be like their fellow fans. I think they have this superiority complex about them that they are entitled. Which is so wrong.

Liverpool fans have always been more relaxed even though they have better records than us, and them changing managers hasnt really made any differnce, yet they still hope. Somthing arsenal fans lack.

What did we do with the under performing Ricoh after Graham? Pls remind me how we gave him eons of time to sort the situation out without letting him go (obvious sarcasm). He got Bergkamp in though, that was good.

I support the call for change, just to make us hopeful like liverpool and totenham fans, since i think managerial changes does this. But, kronke’s input remains. We would always be there, but hardly there, because we wont pay what worldclass clubs pay for better players.

P.S. Koeman hasnt done anything other managers havent done at Everton or southampton. Everton always gives Man city, chelsea and man utd problems. Also southampton too. But some fans wont remember this. They just propagate any manager they fancy, just because of few results without first looking at past history.

Olegunner, only time would tell. We would have been like Liverpool if not for wenger, is that what you are saying? Because they have more honours and history, yet havent won anything since the last time they chopped their last Manager and player for 100 times.

I do not expect to win the league every year – hell I don’t expect a league title in 13 years… what do expect – at a minimum – is that Arsenal FC be competitive – that means realistically challenging for the league. Wenger simply cannot do this so it is time for him to go. I cited Leicester to show that even when all the leagues big teams had a bad year, Wenger still couldn’t win the league… if anything that shows his complete inability to make Arsenal title winners again.

2) I have been to 2 finals… I am not rubbishing the FA Cup, but fans of major teams measure success by their winning of major honours. When Chelsea, United, City list off their ECL and league titles, Arsenal and Spurs can say – yes, but we won some FA cups and a League cup and finished 2nd in the league one year… Arsene Wenger treats the fans like mugs by telling them every year “we can win the league / this is the best squad I have had” – then come March, it’s “judge me in May” then come May it’s “we were a little short” – it’s bollocks.

3) It sounds like you are saying you want Wenger to go, but are not willing to stand up and be counted. In my post I said that “we want Wenger to be a success at Arsenal”, but I am not ok with keeping him on longer than is in the best interest for the club out of sentiment – if you are then I’d say you are a fan of Wenger over Arsenal and that is wrong.

3) You’re not English are you Kane? If I wasn’t then not sure why that would matter, but for the record, I am. I was born in East London and moved to Angel Islington in 2006. I held an Arsenal Season ticket from 2007 – 2012 and used to walk to the games from my apartment.

Really don’t see much wrong with players we got. I just don’t think they’re being used properly. We got all the tools but don’t know how to use them. We don’t need to spend mega just get someone in who can use them and I’m sure we’ll be challenging for everything. Simples

Pedro
“Yep. Be more like Spurs fans. Nice one Arsene. Nothing says you don’t care / are losing your mind, quite like calling for Arsenal fans to be more like our nastiest of rivals”…

Personally , I don’t think it’s Wenger who’s losing his mind for suggesting to it’s fans to unite behind a team that is in the top 4, in the last 16 of champions league, in the last 16 of f a cup ….. I think it’s the posters on here who need to see a professional to cure their obsession on Wenger ….sad people…

Wenger flaws are that he has too many players who need their hands to be held. Cech needs the team to defend deep to make saves, Ozil needs the other 9 players to defend for him, Sanchez needs 9 others to keep the ball more than him, Giroud needs the ball on his head, Kos needs a calmer defender when he makes a rash move, Xhaka needs two high tackling dm for him to stay on his feet, Coquelin needs a ball playing dm, Ramsey needs a high tackling dm when he bombs out…

P, the truth of the matter is, totenham and liverpool fans are better than us. They have even sold more worldclass players at more expensive rate than us, bought more than us, changed managers more than us, yet you still see happy fans that are hopeful.

Maybe when Arsenal starts chopping and changing managers, we would have happy fans

Look at all the AKB Untold trolls on here trying to push their cult nonsense. Too funny that you mugs think it’s a source of pride to be a London Gooner right now. You fuckers are an embarrassment to real Arsenal fans everywhere. Sheeple that just keep showing up and throwing their money away for an old senile greedy twat of a man. Then they sing One Arsene Wenger like it’s not enough he gets paid 8 million a year for absolutely nothing. You idiots are the problem right behind Wenger. You AKB fucktards are complicit in the destruction of a once competitive club. Now we’re just a joke that top teams long to get drawn against. Cannon fodder for the clubs with actual ambition. You should all be be embarrassed. 13 years is absurd. Where’s your pride ffs?!

Hey, at least we’ve gotten our yearly, “The season isn’t over/we’ve had injuries/ignore our disastrous current form/remember we were good a few months back/we have another match coming up” comment from Wenger.

“I feel what Alan was pointing out is that no one club is entitled to winning the trophy each year and the fact we are contenders each season means someone is trying to win it (Wenger’s teams may have bottled it in the crucial periods but there are still no guarantees); how many top 6 teams have City beaten this season, with Pep in charge?”

What an absolute load of bollocks. How on earth are we contenders each season? How many people back us at the start of a season? Very few. Why? Because we are not good enough. In large because of the management of the team.. Abysmal mentality, tactics, preparation etc etc etc…

As for Pep, he’s been at City for 9 months. Wengers has had 13 fucking years. As for their record against the top 6, what happened when we played them this season?!

It’s time to move on from Wenger, for the better or worse who knows? We have to at least TRY something different. In the mid 90’s we were at a cross roads and going nowhere until Wenger came in, so here’s hoping a new man can do the same.

WHEN Wenger finally does go ( he won’t get sacked) the stories will eventually all come out from ex pro’s and PEOPLE’s true thought’s of him will be learned.

No ex players at the club in any real caching roles, (Pires with the youth) just ambassador positions. Henry left and cited Joncker as a thank you not Wenger.

Known dumped after leading what was historically one of the worst, on paper back 4 Arsenal ever had to the Champions League final in 2006.
– Following year Wenger cites tactical differences for change and Keown is no longer the defensive or coach.

I’ve always been intrigued by the turn of phrase “unite behind the team” posited here on a regular basis by one or two fans who’ve grown used to Wenger like an old pair of comfortable slippers they are loathed to throw away even though they’re visibly and functionally disintegrating with each passing season.

To make matters worse, the very same fans know the end is nigh so they shop around desperately trying to find ones exactly the same make, shape and colour. And when they fail to find such a pair, they fall back into the usual mitigative consolation which is either “who would replace him” or “be careful what you wish for”. I don’t think that in the history of football there will ever be a situation quite like this one.

Who’d have thought that the price for 3 PL titles was going to be 13+ years gathering dust and apathy in the darkened corridors of perpetual mediocrity?

Ian Wright comes off as a dickhead for disclosing body language that he gleaned from a private meeting with Wenger. Wenger never specifically told him he was leaving but he made up stuff anyway.
It’s now wonder these ex-players defend Wenger at every turn.
It’s all about access to further their own means.

I know, Wright said he looks as if he’s had the wind knocked out of him, but what I cannot get my head around is why that is. He fails in the same fashion every year, to have your wind knocked out of you usually something unexpected happens that takes you by surprise.

Arsenal bottling big games, suffering from a lack of tactics and preparation, suffering a lack of application at key moments, suffering a lack of leaders and mettle, suffering through injuries, none of that is new, it happens annually.

Unless it is the level of hostility toward him now that has knocked his wind out, last season saw the anti-Wenger sentiment grow, and this season you knew it was waiting to explode if the usual s**t happened.

He really has to go. Signing that new deal is good for nobody, fan resentment will be at fever pitch, fans will start detaching from the club, the players will suffer for it, so will Wenger and you will almost end up with fans feeling as if they are paying taxes to support Arsenal, don’t want to do it, but sort of have to.

Just going to use this time to dream anyway, I fully expect Wenger to sign on after the annual decent run of meaningless results.

Wallace what is your take on Wenger? Do you think he should sign a new deal?
If he does sign a new two year deal what do you think those two years will hold for Arsenal on the footballing front? What would be your expectations for the next two seasons with Wenger still as manager?

That’s the easiest question ever. Another 2 years under Wenger will be the same as the last 13 or the next 100. Top four dog fight, bouncing back, mental strength, jaded, stadium, oil money and referees. Take your pick.

There is every possibility that Wenger will find he falls out of the top four places. Not dramatically most likely but out of the top four nonetheless. It will become harder and harder for him to get that top four. This is what happens when you stand still as a club under an over-rated past his best manager. He had some respite for a couple of seasons with some of the bigger clubs failing but that was never going to last season upon season upon season. Time is not going to stand still for Wenger. He is going to be bypassed even just for the fourth place trophy.

By hook or by crook we finish in the top four every season. There is no doubt in my mind at all that we’ll do it again and he will sign on the dotted line for another 2 or 3 years (if he hasn’t already). Absolutely no doubt in my mind at all.

Wenger has mastered top four, like me on a pint of Guinness and if we finish out of Europe next season with a new man, sweet fa.

This club is stagnant in its elite failures, with pundits like John Cross telling us to be careful what we wish for. Wenger created greatness that can be built on with new blood, but we all know the well ran dry a number of years ago.

Jeff:
“By hook or by crook we finish in the top four every season. There is no doubt in my mind at all that we’ll do it again and he will sign on the dotted line for another 2 or 3 years (if he hasn’t already). Absolutely no doubt in my mind at all”.

He’s got a decent chance to do it this season but it won’t be that easy for him.. But it’s the next two seasons that would be of concern to me. I just don’t see how he will improve enough to do anything more than he has done for so long now. And it could well prove not enough as far as top four goes.

Like yourself I have been loathe to write Wenger off for top four in the past but I do see some serious problems for him in that regard if he carries on past this season. I think it is definitely end time for him and if he had any real sense he would know this himself.

The thing that gets me in all of this is that we were having these very same conversations as far back as 2006, 2007, 2008… present. So you have to ask yourself what’s changed. The only thing that’s changed is we’ve all got a bit older but some of us haven’t got any wiser. Those same people, in their droves, are still banging the same drum. This to me, is surreal and quite extraordinary. I find it intellectually difficult to fathom.

Wallace:
“but I am genuinely curious, those of you who have been laying into Wenger for the last 5/6yrs, what are you expecting from the new guy? the league title within 3yrs? the champions league within 5yrs?”

I don’t think it would even be about titles for the first few seasons. I think many would just want to see the weaknesses that Wenger teams have had for so long to be addressed. And putting this into place where we see a chance for genuine title challenges and going further in the CL will most probably take some time.

The chance has to be taken. Wenger’s way is not working at the real elite top end of football and hasn’t for so long now.

“I don’t think it would even be about titles for the first few seasons. I think many would just want to see the weaknesses that Wenger teams have had for so long to be addressed. ”

really? you all don’t strike me as the patient sort. and what if the new guy’s got a far more defensive mindset. would that be okay as long as the results come in? get rid of some of the flair players, bring in a few more honest pros…

Wallace:
”really? you all don’t strike me as the patient sort. and what if the new guy’s got a far more defensive mindset. would that be okay as long as the results come in? get rid of some of the flair players, bring in a few more honest pros…”

Been patient with Wenger. What irked people about Wenger for many years now is that he talks a big game but continually let’s down. That’s his manner the self-confidence line but when you can see through it and see what he is saying has no basis in reality it can become grating.

If you wanted to win the league Wallace playing beautiful football the chance has gone now with Guardiola going to Man City. Wenger was playing Barca light for a good few years in the past and now there is a manager straight from that stable plying his trade in England, He is expected to improve on this season going forward.

Arsenal have not been playing beautiful football for a good while so to bring in a manager that maybe can get this side more tactically aware and better defensively may not be such a harsh come down.

Clearly, you have not read the article whose link you posted. That headline was meant to feed into the general sense of frustration of the Arsenal fans at the time. No where did Kroenke say he did not buy the club to win trophies. He merely alluded to what style of management was required if an investor wants to win championships. Like I said, our fans are cannon fodder for the media anyway. Christ!

RedtruthFebruary 10, 2017 19:00:14
I’m not happy with Wenger’s first 8 years, his Champions league performances were pathetic.

Redtruth, help me here. What other manager has taken the club on better runs, and consistently too, in the CL (or its equivalent in the past). No matter how much you wish for it, no one is going to be booting Wenger out the door; but if the fans continue to harass him in the games, he may make that choice himself.

I have doubts that you are a true fan of the club, though, going by some of your comments. You sound like a double agent type (don’t take it personal. Just my observation). Cheers.

The premise behind your question about the future is implicitly based on the idea that whoever replaces Wenger isn’t going to suddenly start winning big trophies. We know and understand that. I think it would be a small miracle if a new manager wins anything of note in the first few years. There is a huge pile of clearing, adjusting and adapting to do first and it might even take several new managers to do it. It wouldn’t surprise me if we dropped out of top four for a few seasons which by your standards (being a staunch Wenger supporter) would be disastrous and serve as vindication for years of unconditional faith in him. But not in my view. You can’t expect to disturb the hornets nest and escape without being stung. But it’s got to be done.

We simply cannot go on dreaming that nobody can possibly do as good a job as Wenger and keep putting his retirement on hold. The sooner we start the big clean up job the better it will be. Part of the reason why it’s got to this stage is because Wenger has overstayed around 10 years more than he should ever have.

A major revolution happened in British football when Abramovich arrived in 2003 and big clubs have since then had to adapt to the changing climate. We didn’t. We kept going the same. If the board had any sense they would have seen what was happening a few years after that and replaced Wenger with someone who was more dynamic, modern and innovative. But they didn’t and Wenger became part of the furniture. Each year that he stayed, strengthened and cemented his position even more. Today he cannot be sacked and he won’t resign.

Redtruth, well tell me. On record, Wenger is the first (only) manager to take the club to its best ever performance in Champions league (I have not said European cup winners); and you stated how poor his performances in CL have been.

We can hate the manager and wish him to leave, by all means. But the best way to guarantee that the next manager has a good platform to take the club where we desire, is to support the team to finish as well as possible, under Wenger. I know this is his last season. Who knows, maybe the players know it too and are responding accordingly. Any disruptive action taken by fans may just go to hurt the club’s transition plan. If that’s not incentive enough to endure till the end of the season, I don’t know what is.

Just need to watch him interview Wenger for the 20th anniversary special to see he turns into a fawning sycophant around him.

I said at the time, Wenger was in heaven back in 05-12. Suited his style of management down to a tee to be able to develop kids with no expectation of winning anything significant. Goes to a big club with expectations and he fails like he has done here for the last four years or so.

RedtruthFebruary 10, 2017 22:26:54
It would be impossible for past Arsenal managers to better Wenger as the Champions league didn’t exist.

Actually, it did exist then as the EUROPEAN CUP, before the birth of the ‘champions league’ in the 92/93 season. How well have previous managers done for the club, and as consistently?

The fact is other than one Cup winners win, we have had very few appearances in European competitions in the past. We have to admit these (last 20) have been the club’s best years, albeit failing to win it, despite a couple of semi-finals and Quater finals showings, culminating in the final of ’06.

Ian Wright is not the sharpest knife in the draw and he will fall for Wenger’s little play on words. If Wenger’s exact words were “coming to the end”, I’m with Paulinho. It means the end is still coming but it’s not quite here yet. He probably meant that this final contract might be the last but even that I doubt. It only takes a tiny bit of success for the faithful to start waxing lyrical again and this gives him enormous courage to continue. Not to mention of course the doubtless constant praising from the board and owner.

Wenger is off in the summer. It is only because it will be disingenuous to the club he and the management cannot talk about it just yet.

Even if he wants to win something in his final year, this may not be it with the players’ failing to turn up at crucial times and he not being able to motivate them anymore; the toxic likelihood of a atmosphere at the games is also going to make it even harder as each team will know the fans will turn against, if they score a goal against us.

If Wenger was leaving at the end of the season he wouldn’t have had his mug in every contract signing photo since Christmas. Cohen Bramall, the underwhelming French trio extension a few weeks back. Right in the middle of it, Cheshire Cat grin.

Everybody knows Wengers management years are coming to an end so how can the club attract we players until we have a new younger manager and a club in progression.
If he stays two more years it’s the same so there’s no point him staying, it only delays the inevitable.

Gut feeling, the players, even the ones that don’t rate Wenger will dig him out, as failure to do so would hit their comfort zone.
Top four, probably top three, getting past BM, which conceivably could happen according to the law of averages….or an FA Cup win, and he stays
Perhaps he has agreed to stay on one more time on the condition there is a succession plan?
Just cannot see him leaving easily, and let’s face it, a single cell organism could take Ian Wright in.

10,000 fans are going to boycott the game tomorrow?
Cmon that’s an exercise in futility, Arsenal will still declare attendance as 60, 211 based on “tickets sold”
The media will say there was a transportation workers strike or bad traffic.

RedtruthFebruary 10, 2017 23:20:51
Can you believe Goonereris defending Wenger’s failures in Europe as some sort of accomplishment…lol.

Redtruth, that’s a red herring right there. I quoted you above where your post suggested Arsene’s first 8 years were no good for you because, according to you, “his CL performances were pathetic”, which implies you have had some managers in the club’s history offer up better performances in CL. You have not answered my question as to which though.

“I think that what’s happened with Arsenal players, and all the Arsenal teams that he’s built in the last nine, 10 years. They’ve let him down badly.”
That was Ian Wright absolving Wenger of any blame on a radio station.
Incredible really

I really find the argument “players have let wenger down” funny. So the fuck signed these mediocre clowns in the first place ? And who decided to give them meaty contracts ? Walcott on 140k , wilshere on 80k ,etc …